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FIA winners: Vision Independent Financial Planning

28 February, 2019Vision Independent Financial Planning

We present the annual Financial Innovation Awards (FIA) which recognises best practice, product innovation and projects that have a positive impact on the finance sector, consumers and communities across the globe. Last year’s competition had 17 categories covering:

Products and services, including innovation in product or service design, payments, mobile banking and product delivery

Marketing and customer experience, including innovation in data and its application, customer service and customer-focused innovation

Finance in the community, including innovation in sustainability, financial inclusion and outreach

Technology, including best fintech partnership and a new category for open banking

Best financial start-ups

Find out more about some of the 2018 winners...

The Vision Independent Financial Planning story

We talked to Vision Independent Financial Planning about winning the ‘Innovation in product or service design – savings & investments’ category with the project: Castle Investment Solutions Investment Portal.

Why did you enter the Financial Innovation Awards?

We feel that the FIA awards are highly respected in the industry. When we enter into these awards and get shortlisted, we are not only being judged against our peers, but alongside some of the industry giants such as Barclays and HSBC. For a small company such as Vision to be included in such company is phenomenal.

Could you please give us an outline of your winning project?

Vision Independent Financial Planning - Castle Investment Solutions Investment Portal.
As a business with Treating Customers Fairly at its core, Vision has launched an in-house investment portal which completes the complex due diligence required of discretionary fund managers on behalf of their appointed representative firms free of charge, saving them time and eliminating duplicated work. Castle Investment Solutions operates completely separately from the advisory business to offer research, due diligence and operational support as well as many other advisor benefits to its network.

What would be your advice to people entering the Awards this year?

Take a chance on entering these awards! Many people think that it is just for large corporates, but from our experience the short listing is done fairly and honestly and smaller companies are recognised as often as the larger ones. Make your entry as clear and concise as possible and don’t forget to add a sprinkle of passion.

What did winning the award mean to you?

It has reflected the hard work put into the development of and the unique selling point of our investment portal. It has given our network of Appoint Reps added confidence that the work carried out by Castle is ground-breaking and industry recognised. Awards always give a boost to the head office team and motivates them to keep going in the hopes of winning further awards in the future.

Why do you think it’s important for the sector to keep innovating?

We operate in a fast moving, ever-changing environment. If we do not keep up with those changes then we are at risk of failure. Innovation, adaptation and change are the only ways to ensure that the sector remains compliant and our clients are kept safe and given the very best advice and products that we can provide.